Complete
by madbutterfly
Summary: Meeting up with Shiki, Beat and Rhyme after the Game had finished was one of the most frightening things Neku had ever had to do... Neku/Shiki.


**Firstly, title. Honestly, I could absolutely not think of a title for this, so I just skimmed through the story until I found a word that wouldn't seem too weird as a title. That explains the lameness of it, I hope.**

**Secondly, this is pretty much inspired by the end scene, and I've already written another one that was inspired by the same, although admittedly that was from Shiki's point of view.**

**Either way, I hope no one minds. I don't think they're all that similar... Just tell me what you think.**

**This is probably very OOC though. Sorry!**

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He had to wait seven days before this had happened and he'd been nervous beforehand.

Meeting up with Shiki, Beat and Rhyme after the Game had finished, after they'd all been brought back to life, was one of the most frightening things Neku had ever had to do, although he wasn't sure why. He supposed he thought that they might not have anything in common or anything to talk about now. During the Game, they'd been caught up in completing missions, not getting erased. They were in it together, though Neku tried to fight that at first. They didn't have time for idle chat.

His fears had been unnecessary. They talked for some time about their lives, their interests. They'd _learned_ about each other, they felt like they knew each other for the first time. They _really_ knew each other.

All the time the four were talking to each other, Neku found his eyes drawn back to Shiki whenever he thought she wasn't looking. He didn't know why, but he just wanted to take in the sight of her. The _real_ her.

After Beat and Rhyme left to go home, Shiki and Neku had been left alone. Both of them had thought it would be awkward, but the initial silence was not uncomfortable, it was friendly, companionable, pleasant. They sat on the wall near Hachiko side by side, neither of them looking at each other, but neither of them were willing to move away, either.

Unsurprisingly, Shiki was the one to break it. "So...um...you don't mind how I look now, do you?" she asked nervously, taking off her round glasses to clean them on her top. Neku suspected she was doing that just as a way to avoid looking at him.

"What?" he said, a bit startled at the suddenness of the question. "Why would I be?"

"Well, you know. You're used to me looking like Eri. We'll still be friends now that you know what I really look like...won't we?"

"Of course," Neku said, putting his hands behind him on the wall to support himself, trying to ignore the slightly painful sensation of rough brick digging into his palm. "You're really you now, after all."

Shiki looked at him from the corner of her eye. "Yes, but compared to Eri...I'm somewhat..." she stopped and sighed. "Never mind."

She made to stand up, jerking slightly as Neku grabbed hold of her arm and spun her around.

"Shiki, I like you for...I don't like you because of how you look," he said, his voice slightly lower than normal. He was mildly embarrassed about saying this, and the majority of his brain was yelling at him to put his headphones back on and stop talking. He felt a sudden need to have music in the background, not just chattering people and stifling crowds.

Shiki was just standing there with her arm bent in a slightly awkward angle because of Neku's grip. She didn't try to break away from it. His touch left her frozen to the spot.

"I'm plain compared to Eri. I won't blame you if you feel awkward around me." Shiki managed an awkward, forced smile and twisted her arm a bit in an attempt to get Neku to let her go, but it got her nowhere. He kept gripping her just tight enough to keep her from moving away. "Hey, uh, mind letting me go now? It k-kind of hurts..." She cursed herself for stuttering. From the moment he'd felt her hand on her arm she'd thought she might, but she'd been trying so hard not to!

"Shiki..." There was silence for a few moments, then Neku looked up at her, sighed heavily and tilted his head to one side. "I like how you look now."

Shiki didn't believe this for a moment, but it made her feel a bit better to hear it anyway, whether she considered it sincere or not.

"Thank you," she said flatly, and jerked her arm once more, this time succeeding in freeing herself. "I have to go now..."

"For Christ's sake," Neku muttered. "Can't you just accept a damn compliment?" He stood up and followed the now retreating figure of the brown-haired girl.

She didn't respond, just carried on walking and staring at the ground.

He was faster, and could quite easily catch up to her despite her brisk pace, clinging onto her shoulder as soon as she was within reach.

"I like how you look now. I've liked your personality ever since you started acting like yourself instead of Eri. I like _you_. You were my entry fee for the second and third Games I played. I don't give a crap whether you believe me now, as long as you can give me a chance to prove this to you. Dammit..."

Shiki was looking at him like he was insane, but he didn't pay attention to this for long before he'd shut his eyes and pressed his lips firmly against hers. While it wasn't Shiki's first kiss, it was Neku's, but if she could tell she didn't let on as she went limp and flopped against him in surprise.

It didn't last long. He hadn't really intended to do that so as soon as he really took in what he was doing, he pulled away and hoped she wouldn't be too angry at him.

She didn't seem angry though. She'd just gone the colour of a strawberry and had her mouth hanging open.

"...uh...?" she squeaked out.

Neku bit his lip. "Well...uh...do you believe me now?"

Shiki reached out, took his hand and let the smallest hint of a smile slip onto her face. "Thank you, Neku..." she murmured, sighing softly. "I think I might do now...yes."

He didn't care what he had to do to get her confidence up, whatever it was, he'd do it, but for now he just savoured the feel of her hand in his.

Why was it that he suddenly felt so _complete_?

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**Review and I'll give you a cookie! Reviews mean a lot more to me than you might think.**

**Listening to pop rock from the 1980's and writing fanfiction is kinda fun, actually. The music I'm listening to probably explains the non-angsty nature of this, despite the fact that I'm in the habit of writing angst when it comes to TWEWY. :P**

**I'm rather uncertain about this one... :s**


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